Season of Fruitfulness Disc1

This is a transcript of a message where the speaker reflects on the previous year and shares their belief that the upcoming year will be a year of faith and abundance. They also recount a story about a friend who passed away and had a message for them about God expanding their ministry. The main idea is that Jesus is the true vine and believers are the branches, and that everyone is destined for abundance and different levels of fruitfulness. Sebagai sebahagian daripada latihan tahunan saya, ini adalah sesuatu yang saya lakukan setiap tahun. Saya mengambil sedikit masa di akhir tahun terakhir, hanya untuk mencari Tuhan mengenai tahun yang akan datang. Saya ingat berkongsi dengan beberapa daripada anda yang bersama kami pada awal tahun terakhir, pada awal tahun terakhir, mereka memulakan 207, yang akan menjadi tahun kepercayaan yang lebih besar. Dan 207 benar-benar menjadi satu di mana Tuhan telah mengambil banyak, melalui tahun percubaan dan ujian, tetapi bagi mereka yang berterus terang, anda datang ke sini sebagai tujuan. Dan apabila kepercayaan anda telah diuji, anda telah dibuktikan sebagai benar. Dan seperti yang saya katakan kepada Tuhan pada akhir tahun terakhir, mengenai 208, saya hanya merasakan dalam hati saya bahawa 208 akan menjadi tahun kepercayaan. Ini adalah satu di mana kita akan mengambil buah-buahan, walaupun dalam masa panas dan hujan. Ia bukanlah buah-buahan dalam persekitaran yang baik dan tiada apa-apa yang berlaku, tetapi saya rasa ia akan menjadi tahun di mana ada panas dan hujan yang berlaku, bukan sahaja dalam... Saya rasa ia berlaku dalam segi dunia, segi ekonomi dan sebagainya. Kita sudah mula melihat tanda-tandanya pada awal tahun ini, tetapi di tengah-tengah semuanya, panas dan hujan, pengikut-pengikut benar-benar dalam Kristi akan terus mengambil buah-buahan. Ia akan menjadi tahun kepercayaan dan saya percaya dengan itu. Mereka akan terus berada dalam Kristi dan kita akan mengambil buah-buahan yang banyak. Saya ingin berkongsi sedikit mengenai tema kepercayaan ini. Seperti yang anda lihat pada hujung buku, seri seterusnya akan berkongsi tentang buah-buahan, dan saya ingin meneruskan tema ini. Tetapi hari ini, saya ingin menjelajahi dengan anda idea kepercayaan dan kepercayaan. Saya ingin mengajak anda berjalan bersama saya semasa saya mengajak anda melalui dua sesi ini. Terima kasih sekali lagi kerana berada di sini dan saya percaya bahawa anda akan merasakan ini adalah masa yang beruntung. Mari kita menyembah dan berkomitmen pada Tuhan. Tuhan, kami berterima kasih kerana pada tahun kepercayaan, rakyat anda akan berkuasa. Tuhan, semua kepercayaan kami akan berubah menjadi kepercayaan. Saya berdoa pagi ini, bahawa anda akan membenarkan rakyat anda untuk berkongsi perkara-perkara yang anda letakkan di hati saya dengan mudah, dengan jelas, tetapi dengan kekuasaan. Supaya kita semua dapat meninggalkan tempat ini, hanya menerima daripada kata-kata anda dan hanya mempunyai sesuatu yang kita boleh bawa ke dalam hati kita. Oleh itu, kami berkomitmen pada masa ini, berkongsi kepada anda. Dengan nama Yesus. Amin. Beberapa tahun yang lalu, ada seorang kawan pastor saya di Melbourne yang telah dihubungi dengan Tuhan. Dan menariknya, minggu yang... Anda tahu, saya tinggal di Perth, bukan di Melbourne. Tetapi menariknya, minggu yang berlalu, apabila dia meninggal, saya berkhidmat di Melbourne. Dan apabila saya menemui bahawa dia sangat sakit dengan kanser, saya bertanya jika saya boleh berjumpa dengannya. Oleh itu, saya menelefon kisah. Dan kisah beritahu saya bahawa dia sudah sangat sakit dan dia tidak lagi melihat pelawat. Tetapi mereka sedikit ingat bahawa dalam minggu atau dua sebelum itu, dia menyebutkan bahawa dia ingin berjumpa dengan saya jika saya berada di sana. Oleh itu, mereka mengatakan bahawa apa yang diberitahu kisah adalah mereka akan menelefon keluarga dan jika jika dia ingin berjumpa dengan saya, maka mereka akan menyesuaikan diri. Dan itulah yang mereka lakukan. Mereka telefon keluarga dan dia sebenarnya ingin berjumpa dengan saya. Oleh itu, saya berjumpa dengan dia. Dia sangat sakit pada masa itu. Muka dia benar-benar merah jambu kerana kanser perut. Dia sangat kecil. Saya tidak dapat mengenali dia. Saya berjalan ke dalam bilik, saya terkejut. Tetapi apabila saya berjalan ke dalam bilik, dia senyum. Dan kemudian, dengan suara yang sangat lemah, dia berkata kepada saya, dia berkata, saya ingin berjumpa dengan anda, Benny, kerana saya ada sesuatu yang ingin beritahu anda. Oleh itu, apabila dia berkata begitu, saya menarik tangan saya ke katilnya dan saya letakkan telinga saya di sebelah mulutnya kerana dia sangat lemah. Dan inilah yang dia berkata kepada saya. Saya tidak akan lupa. Inilah yang dia berkata. Dia berkata, Benny, saya mahu anda tahu bahawa Tuhan akan mengembangkan perkhidmatan anda. Dan dia akan membuka pintu untuk anda, bukan sahaja secara lokal, tetapi secara internasional. Oleh itu, dia berkata, anda tetap percaya dan anda terus berkhidmat. Itu sahaja. Saya tidak mempunyai kekuatan untuk teruskan lagi. Oleh itu, apabila saya keluar dari bilik itu, isterinya berubah kepada saya dan berkata, dia tak mahu berjumpa dengan sesiapa pun. Dia mahu berjumpa dengan anda. Pada saat itu, perasaan yang saya dapatkan adalah sesuatu seperti anak murid di bilik atas. Saya sedikit terkejut. Apabila dia berkata perkara-perkara itu kepada saya, saya tidak dapat mengaku pada masa itu. Saya tidak melihat bagaimana ia akan berlaku kerana itu adalah empat tahun yang lalu, saya rasa. Saya tidak melihat bagaimana ia akan berlaku, tetapi saya terkejut kerana itu adalah kata-kata terakhir seseorang yang akan menghadapi kematian. Sehari selepas kejadian itu, kawan pastor saya telah meninggal. Sekiranya anda pernah berhampiran dengan seseorang dan orang itu sedang meninggal dan ia akan meninggalkan anda dengan kata-kata terakhir, adakah anda tidak akan menjadi seperti saya? Anda akan menarik perhatian dan mendengar dengan berhati-hati, bukan? Adakah benar untuk mengatakan bahawa anda akan mengingat setiap kata-kata yang orang itu berkata selama hidup anda? Dan saya rasa itulah. Saya beritahu anda semua ini untuk memasukkan kata-kata yang saya akan baca untuk anda dalam konteksnya. Dan itu adalah John 15. John 15 adalah dalam sesuatu makna kata-kata terakhir Jesus kepada anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-an murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak mur murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak mur murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak mur murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak murid-anak mur Ok, I am the true vine, you are the branches, and my father is the gardener. He told them all of this. Now this is not surprising at all. It will not be something that surprises the disciples because the grapevine is often being used as a symbol of Israel. And we see this metaphor being used for Israel throughout the scriptures. And there are many prophetic scriptures that speaks of Israel producing fruits of unrighteousness, fruits of injustice, etc. So the grapevine to them is quite clear. It is referring to Israel or to God and His relationship with Israel. So it is not surprising to them. So Jesus declared to them, I am the true vine. And by this time, I think He had the full attention of all the disciples because He was giving them, as it were, an illustrated sermon. Does that make sense? Here is an illustrated sermon. I show you the grapes, I show you the vine, etc. And what unfolded was a lesson on fruitfulness that you and I need to learn. Ok, I am just going to make two simple observations first. Just a few basic observations. Number one is this. Through all this, He basically communicated, number one, we are all destined for abundance. That is the first thing. All of us are destined for abundance. Now firstly, in His conversation there in the first eight verses, He tells us that there are different levels of fruitfulness in all of our lives. Wilkinson actually referred to this in the Secrets of the Vine and he talks beautifully about that. There are different levels of fruitfulness. If you read John 15 verse 1 all the way to verse 8, Jesus actually talks about four different levels of fruitfulness. Not just one level, it is not just fruitful or barren, but there are four different levels of fruitfulness. Let me outline them for you. First of all, He talks about a branch that bears no fruit. If there is no fruit at all, in other words it is barren, what would the Lord do? He says He will cut off. Then there is a branch that bears fruit. In other words, there is some fruit on it. Then what would He do? He would prune it. He would cut it and just prune it. Then there is a branch that produces much more fruit. Because it is being pruned, it ends up producing more fruit. Then the ultimate purpose is for every branch to produce much fruit. God's desire is that all of us will produce much fruit. Let me outline them. Four different levels. First, no fruit. From no fruit, He wants us to bear some fruit, at least bear fruit. Once you start bearing some fruit, the Lord will prune you so that you can produce more fruit. But His ultimate destiny is all of us should produce much fruit to the glory of God the Father. Does that make sense? From no fruit to some fruit, from some fruit to more fruit, from more fruit to much fruit. That's the aim. When we talk about fruit here, about being fruitful as a believer, we are talking about both inward as well as outward fruitfulness. Inward and outward. The inward fruit would refer to the fruit of our character or sometimes called the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit of our character. The outward fruit would refer to things like good works, which includes evangelism and service. The life of God is inside of us, manifesting itself on the outside. So we have inner fruit, outward fruit. In this first session, we will focus on how God, our farmer, our wine dresser, deals with us in order to bring us into our destiny of producing fruit. All of us must produce much fruit. Now verse 8, this tells us that ultimately, fruitfulness is a mark of discipleship, which is at the end of the day, for God's glory. Now can I invite you to just read verse 8 again. Look at verse 8, it says, This is to my Father's glory. After he talks about how we must produce much fruit, he ends up by saying this, This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. So fruit bearing has everything to do with discipleship. And discipleship has everything to do with bringing glory to God. That's the ultimate goal. When you think about it, the branch in the vine actually exists only for one thing. A grape branch only exists for one thing. They exist to produce fruit. That's all there is to it. A grape vine is very different from, say, a tree. If you get an oak tree, you can go and create furniture out of it, or you may make flooring or something like that. Nobody ever uses grape branches and all that to make furniture, because it's too bendy. It has no other usage except to bear fruit. The only purpose of a grape vine is to bear fruit. Unlike other kinds of trees and all that, it's never used for furniture or building material. At most, it's used as firewood. And in the same way, what is the purpose of the disciple? What is the purpose of you and me except to be fruitful? What is fruitfulness? A simple definition of fruitfulness would be, it is the outward expression of the life of God that is within us. Can everybody say that with me? It is the outward expression of the life of God that is within us. Can you say it one more time? It is an outward expression of the life of God that is within us. So, that's what fruitfulness is. It's the life of God in us manifesting itself on the outside. Now, can I outline for you four key aspects of fruit bearing? If I could just give you a handle on this. When I say I'm fruitful as a believer, what does it mean? There are four key aspects. Number one is this. It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5.22 talks about this. Let's read this together, shall we? But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. So, all these are the outward manifestation of the life of God in us. Fruit of the Spirit. The second is the fruit of soul winning. The fruit of soul winning. Proverbs 11.30, the wise man says, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who wins souls is wise. So, if there is righteousness that indwells us, it will manifest itself as a tree of life. Others can come and find life through us. And you win souls, that is wise. So, that's the fruit of soul winning. That's the other side. Here's number three. It's the fruit of good works. Good works. Colossians 1.10, the Apostle Paul prayed this. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord, and you may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. So, our good works is also part of being fruitful. Every time you serve the poor, you serve another person, all these are part of being fruitful. And lastly, it's the fruit of spiritual worship. Hebrews 13.15, Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of our lips that confesses His name. So, the life of God in us must result in worship on the outside. Make sense? So, these four areas are the key areas of fruit bearing for every believer. So, that's number one. We are all destined to be for abundance in these four areas. May God make this a year of fruitfulness for us. Where we produce the fruit of the Spirit, we produce soul winning, we produce good works, etc. And worship, take on a new dimension. May God make us fruitful. Here's number two. The second thing that Jesus challenged us to do through this passage is, we must decide to abide. No doubt, we are destined for abundance. But what's the key? You must first decide to abide in Christ. Secondly, the key to abundance is a very clear decision to abide in Christ. John 15.5 says, I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, then he will bear much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. That word abide in the Greek is the word mino, which means literally to stay in a given place, to remain in that state. In remaining in that relationship. Stay in a given place, remain in that relationship. That's the word abide. And our job therefore, brothers and sisters, the good news is this, our job is not to force fruit out of ourselves, but rather to stay connected to the vine. That's all we need to do, stay connected to the vine. And as we stay connected to his life, we then draw from the life that is in the vine. And then you begin to produce fruit. So the action is not in the fruit, the action is in the abiding. Abide in him, just stay connected with him and out of that, the life comes, fruit comes forth. Since our destiny is abundance, remember we said make first observation, destiny is to live in abundance. It follows therefore, listen carefully, don't miss this. If our destiny is abundance, it follows therefore that if there is barrenness in our life, then God will intervene. Am I right? If our destiny is abundance and now you find barrenness, it guarantees us that God will intervene. He will not leave us in a pit of barrenness, but he will intervene. So what is God going to do then if there is barrenness? I see that there are two specific actions here in verse 2. The first part, first action he says, if somebody is not producing fruit, if there is barrenness, what will he do? He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. That's action number 1. There is a cutting off. Action number 2 is every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes. So there is two things here. First is there is a cutting off, the second is there is a pruning. So if you have no fruit, he cuts off. If you are already bearing fruit, he prunes. So let's look at them one at a time. We are going to look at the first one. First action, he cuts off every branch that bears no fruit. That's verse 2A. Now, do you find this very troubling? Is that troubling? I actually find this very troubling when I first came across this verse. He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit. Does it mean that if I don't produce, if I am not walking with good character or good works, then I am going to lose my salvation or something and be cut off? It's actually a very frightening verse. And then if that is the case, why did Jesus go on to say in verse 3, you are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. How does that connect? What does cutting off to do with being clean? What does cleanness to do with purity to do with no fruit? How is all that connected? How do we understand this? Now, I am going to invite you to look again at verse 2. He says he cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. Now, the good thing about today's world is that we have got a lot of resources. And by the way, brothers and sisters, there is no excuse for biblical illiteracy today. Really, there is no excuse. You know why? The internet is just full of resources. Any concordance you want, any word you want to study, you just key in, you get plenty. And then look at this, go back to the original, you can easily do that now, there are plenty of software available. Go back to the original and you look at this word cut off. The word cut off in the Greek is actually the word airo, a-i-r-o, which can also or sometimes better translated within this context as lift up or take up. So I can also translate this verse as, he lifts up every branch in me that bears no fruit. The same word airo in the Greek is also used in say Matthew chapter 4 verse 6 as an example of the usage. If you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up. That's the word airo in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Are you getting the picture here? That's the word airo, lift up, translated as cut off in the NIV. But it can be translated as lift up. Matthew 9 verse 6, so that you may know that the son of God has authority on earth to forgive sins. And then he says to the paralytic, get up, take up, airo your mats and go home. Can you see the pictures here? Take up, lift up. So the picture we should get is not so much one of a farmer just slipping you off because you are not fruitful. But rather one of the farmer coming near to the unfruitful branch, the barren branch and then lifting it up tenderly. I could put it that way. That would be the God I know. He lifts you up. Question, why does he do that? If the branch is barren, why do you lift it up? I think the reason is because the vine branches, now I live in Australia so we got lots of vineyards all over the place. Very easy to find out, you just talk to any vineyard farmer and they will tell you. The reason is because the vine branches, they tend to trail downwards. If you just leave them to grow on their own, they all fall to the ground. And then they start growing along the ground. And once they do that, the branch becomes barren over time. The reason is because as it grows along the ground, it gets dirty, muddy, especially when the rainy season comes. And then it becomes after some time a bit sick. The branch then becomes barren. And when that happens, does the farmer come and say, aiyo so dirty, cut it off. No, not quite like that. It's still valuable to do that. So what the farmer does is, when the farmer comes and sees that the branch has become barren because of its muddy and dirty and all that, he lifts it up, ties it to a wire so that it can now grow on top and not below. So when he lifts it up, clean it up, get rid of all the blockages, then hang it onto a wire so that it can now grow not above the ground. And it will become fruitful again after some time. Does that make sense to you? That's why if you visit a vineyard in Australia, you will always see the branches running above the ground through the use of wire lines. So when a Christian falls to the ground, if I could put it this way, gets covered with sin and becomes barren, the good news I have for you is this, God does not just come by and cut him off, throw him away and abandon him. But I believe God will draw near to us, He will lift us up, He will clean us up and then He will help us flourish again. That's the good news. And how does God do this? How does God clean us up? I believe it is through His Word. Because the Word is like the washing with water. And that's why verse 3 now begins to make sense when it says, You are already clean because of the Word that I have spoken to you. So you see a believer that has become barren, he needs to get back to the Word. He needs to get back to a place where he can clean himself and be lifted up again. And aren't you glad, my brothers and sisters, that God does not cut us off when we fall, but He restores us? Are you glad about that? Aiyo, I don't know about you man, I'm thankful for that. If not, I may not be here already. But here's just a beautiful part that He does not just cut us off, but He lifts us up, cleans us up and then allows us to flourish again. That's God's heart. But here's the climax. What is the key verse in this whole passage? What is the pivot in this teaching? I believe it is found in verse 4. Here's verse 4. It says, Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me, or you remain in me. There's a group of agricultural students in an agricultural college that came up with this experiment. They wanted to measure the lifting power of a growing pumpkin. So as the pumpkin begins to grow, how much weight can it lift? The lifting power as it grows. So what they did was they hooked up this growing pumpkin to a machine that can register the lifting power. They were so surprised with the result. The result was when they hooked it up, as the days passed, they were increasingly surprised at what happened. At first, it lifted about 20 pounds. And then 50 pounds. Then 100 pounds. And as the plant continues to grow, the scale went up all the way to 1000 pounds. The lifting power of a growing pumpkin. And then the students decided to cut the pumpkin off the vine. The moment they did that, they cut the thing, the scale went instantly from 1000 to 0. So they recorded their findings as students should. And this is what they wrote. Separated from the vine, the pumpkin is powerless. That's good. Separated from the vine, the pumpkin is powerless. I say to you, separated from Jesus, the believer is useless. We become powerless. How true, you know. So John 15, 5 says, I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I am him, you bear much fruit. But if not, he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. I think this is the biggest lesson that we need to learn. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Not something, nothing. The biggest hindrance to abiding in Christ, I think, is this sense of independence from God. This sense of, I can do it. In fact, the root of all sin is here. It's this sense of, I don't need God. I want to do my own thing. I did it my way. Just this deep, deep sense of independence. And I tell you, even ministers, even pastors, we can fall into this tendency to want to be independent. I remember my late mentor, Dr John Gallagher, telling us about how God broke his spirit of independence. There was a period in his life, he was an itinerant preacher. There was a season in his ministry life when Dr Gallagher became very wealthy. The reason was because he invested into a car repair shop. And that business grew and grew and grew. It became so big, he was able to finance his own ministry. He didn't need support anymore. Now he can do his own thing. He said, I can go anywhere I want. I can preach anywhere I want. I don't need any offering. I don't need anything. I can support myself. And he was feeling really, really good about it. And then one day, he was preaching in the church. And at the end of the meeting, the pastor did a very strange thing at the end of the service. What he did was, he asked for Dr Gallagher to come to the front. He invited Dr Gallagher to come to the front. Asked him to open up his Bible. Stand in front of people, open up his Bible. And then he challenged his congregation. I want all of you to come and give something to Dr Gallagher on the Bible. So the people came out one by one. Coins, small change. All this money they put onto his Bible. And Dr Gallagher stood there for about 15 minutes as the people come out and put money on top. And he felt so embarrassed. He was so humiliated because he thought, I'm like a beggar. Standing in front of people and people just come and give small change. And he felt so embarrassed, so humiliated. And then he was complaining to God inside. And then the Lord spoke to him. The Holy Spirit spoke to him. And the Holy Spirit said to him, as he was telling the Lord, I don't need this. This is so humiliating. I got all the money I want. I don't need this. The Lord spoke to him and said, I want you to know that you will always be dependent on me. And at that moment, the spirit of independence was broken in his life. In fact, he quit the business and went back. And what a lesson. Apart from me, you can do nothing. This spirit of independence has to be broken. The Scriptures illustrate this very well in Joshua 11, verse 6 to verse 9. Have you ever seen this passage before? It's a perfect illustration of the need to depend on God. And breaking that spirit of independence. The Lord said to Joshua, let me read this for you. Joshua 11, verse 6 to 9. The Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid of them. Because by this time tomorrow, I will hand all of them over to Israel, slain. And then the Lord says, you are to hamstring their horses and you are to burn their chariots. And Joshua at that time was facing a huge allied force and he cried out to the Lord. And then the Lord told him, if the Lord gives you the assurance, you will overcome. I will hand the enemies over to you. And so this is what happened after that. Joshua and his whole army came against them at the waters of Meron and attacked them. And the Lord gave them into the hands of Israel. They defeated them, pursued them all the way to greater Sidon, to Meriboth and Ma'am, and to the valley of Mishpat on the east, until no survivors were left. Now when you see a situation like that, Israel was totally outnumbered, but yet they overcome the enemy completely until everybody was gone. Every enemy was slain. No survivors left. And true enough, God granted Joshua the victory. If this is all Joshua accomplished, all of us would have stood up and gave him a standing ovation. He has done so well. It was such an awesome victory against all odds. But the most amazing thing to me was not this victory. The most amazing thing Joshua did, I think is found in verse 9. Now would you look at verse 9 with me. Immediately after that victory, this is what happened. Joshua did to them as the Lord had directed. He hamstringed their horses and burned their chariots. Now listen, this is an amazing thing. After the victory was won, Joshua obeyed what the Lord said. He hamstringed their horses. He burned their chariots. Do you know that this is a very unthinkable thing? Because you need to understand that during those days, chariots and horses are like the fighter planes. They are like the artillery tanks of today. If you overcome an enemy and they got fighter planes and artillery tanks, what do you do? You add them to your armory. You don't destroy them. It's a stupid thing to do. You should add them to your armory, but instead he destroyed them all. Why did Joshua do that? Why did God ask him to do that? I think the whole point is this. It was to demonstrate that the better belongs to the Lord. That our dependence is upon Him and Him alone. Apart from you, Lord, I can do nothing. It is a declaration of that. That my dependence is not on horses and chariots. My dependence is on you and you alone. It's living out the truth of John 15 verse 5. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Are you with me? What a picture, you know. Hamstring the horses, destroy the chariots. 1 John 2 verse 27, John said, As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you. See, if we abide in the vine, that's where there's an anointing that comes. And that anointing now remains in us. Now any anointing that you and I can have, can only come from Him and Him alone. There's no other source, then there's no other way. I wish, from all my heart I tell you, I wish there is a shortcut to power. But there is none. I wish there's a course you can study, or a seminar you can attend, or a book you can read, a CD that you can listen to, that will bring you from a place of powerlessness to a place of power. I tell you, if there is one, I recommend you. I got news for you, there is none. There is none. I wish there is. The only pathway to a life of power and anointing is by abiding in Christ. No other way. No CD, no seminar, no course. It's abiding in Christ. And then out of the inner world that is calibrated towards God, will flow a life of fruitfulness. Abiding in Christ is like being in the presence of the sun. Because you are in the presence of the sun, you cast a shadow automatically. No need to strive, no need to strive. You just stand in the shadow of the sun, a shadow is cast. If you are abiding in the sun, an anointing flows. It's like walking through a valley of roses. By the time you walk from one end and come out the other end, you can't help it but to carry the fragrance of the roses everywhere you go. It's like eating durians. After that you don't need to tell people, I just had durians. Everybody knows. You are carrying it with you, the fragrance. In the same way when Jesus came, he set his face, that's what Jesus did. He set his face like a flint towards Jerusalem. You know why? Because he came to die on the cross. To set the world free for the Father's glory, he came to die on the cross. And it took him three and a half years to get there. The moment he was anointed, ready, he made his way towards Jerusalem. It took him three and a half years to get there. But you notice, along the way, because of the life of devotion he had towards the Father, because of the intimacy with the Father, because of the abiding, along the way as he moved towards the cross, whoever crosses his path gets blessed. Isn't that right? All he was doing is obeying the Father. He wasn't trying to go out and heal everybody. No, he was just obeying the Father, moving towards the cross. But because of that life of devotion, everywhere he goes, people who cross his path get blessed. Those who need to be healed get healed. Those who are demonised get set free. Those who need a word of wisdom, those who need guidance, they receive it. You notice, as Jesus moved towards the cross, he did not heal every sickness. He did not cast out every demon on earth. Did he? He didn't, right? It's only those who cross his path. Now, what I'm trying to tell you is this, that a fruitful ministry is only an overflow of a life of intimacy. Are you with me on this? It is in that abiding, it is in that intimacy that he had with the Father. And out of that deep devotional life, there's an overflow of ministry. He wasn't trying to minister. He was just being. And things happen. People cross his path, they get blessed. Fruitfulness comes out of intimacy. We see the same thing in the disciples. Acts 4 verse 13, right? When they saw the courage of Peter and John, realised they were unscrewed ordinary men, they were astonished. And they took note that this man had been with Jesus. When Peter and John healed the lame man miraculously, the Pharisees tried to stop them from preaching. We all know their context. But when threatened with imprisonment, they didn't flinch. Instead, they said in verse 12, salvation is found in no one else, but there's no other name under heaven given to man, by which we must be saved. And with that spiritual authority, with that courage, in the words of the Pharisees, they demonstrated that it didn't come from themselves. After all, the Pharisees know they were unscrewed ordinary men. So the only conclusion they can draw, was that this man had been with Jesus. So where did that courage and spiritual authority come from? Intimacy again. So, fruitfulness is a product of intimacy. So my brothers and sisters, what I'm saying to you this morning is this. I'm bringing us back to basics. If we want to see a year of fruitfulness, then let's restore intimacy with our God. Go back to abiding in Christ. Come back to this. This is a good place to say, Amen. We agree. We agree. What other way is there, except that we come back to intimacy. And then once we have the intimacy with God, there's an overflow of ministry that will take place in our life, everywhere we go. We no longer try to minister, simply because of an overflow. One of the most impactful books I read in the year 2007, was a book written by a guy called Wayne Cordero, I think from Hawaii. He wrote a book entitled The Divine Mentor. Have you seen that book before? The Divine Mentor. Is it here in Singapore? Not yet? Anybody got that? Read that book before? No? Okay. If it comes to Singapore, you can pick it up. The title of that book is The Divine Mentor. As someone who believes strongly in mentoring, that book immediately caught my attention when I walked into the bookstore. Thinking that it will help me add value to my mentoring of others, I bought the book. When I got home and I read it, I discovered to my surprise that he was not alluding to any, he was not talking about skills in mentoring. But really what he was alluding to was, he was calling us back in this book, calling us back to abide in Christ, who is our Divine Mentor, and then spending time in His Word. The whole book was about that. It's about going back to this book, abiding in Christ, and let the mentors in this book mentor you. That's what it is, The Divine Mentor. He was trying to help us to understand that if we are willing to spend time with the Lord in His Word, that there are many heroes of the faith inside here, many ancient heroes, who will serve as our Divine Mentors, to instruct us in the ways of the Lord. Are you getting this? It's not about mentoring other people. It's about going back to this book, and let the mentors in this book mentor us. I realised that it's true. It's true. We have a lot of Divine Mentors. Some of us say, I cannot find a mentor, I cannot find a mentor. You know what? There are hundreds of them inside here. King David is inside, waiting to teach you the dangers of flirting with lust. Abraham is here. He sits at this table, waiting to teach us how to walk in faith. Jonah is going to teach you that obedience in the end does not pay. Ruth is waiting to teach you the beauty of submission. All these awesome mentors of the past, are waiting to talk to us, if only we are willing to turn to them. Isn't it? You have a lot of Divine Mentors, all inside here. Every day, they are waiting for you. Have an appointment with me. Let me spend some time with you, and I will mentor you. So that's why Psalms 119, verse 97 to 104. Listen to this. It's so beautiful. Let me read this for you. The Psalmist wrote, Oh how I love your law. I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path, so that I might obey your words. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. I gain understanding from your precepts, therefore I hate every wrong path. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What a statement, you know, of spending time with our divine mentors. Then, guess what? You become wiser than your enemies. You got more insight than your teachers. You have more understanding than the elders. How beautiful, huh? Where did all that come from? Spending time with the Word. Awesome. I was in Sydney last December, and one pastor came up to me, asked me this question. He said, How do I help people in my church who tell me that they are not growing, they feel dry, and they are not fat in this church? Ever heard that one before? When he shared that with me, he asked me this question, he was very sincere. He's a good pastor. When he shared that with me, I could see the sadness on his face. It's a very tragic thing for a pastor to have to bring up. It's understandably one of the most frustrating situations that any pastor can face. Now, I know this brother, and I know it's not so much because it is a blow to his ego, my member says, not fat in this church. That means my preaching is no good. It's not quite like that. It's not a blow to his ego, but rather, I think sometimes pastors feel very bad about these situations like that because most progressive churches have structured in resources and programs to help the people grow spiritually. Am I right to say that? In almost any church you go to that is progressive, there are structures put in, there are programs inside to help people grow. But the key really is this, you and I must also be willing to take personal responsibility for our own growth. Isn't that right? We can provide all the structures, we can provide all the programs, but in the end, we must take responsibility for our own growth. In my church, back in Perth, it's the same. I can have a growth cycle, telling people where to grow from a convert to a disciple to a worker to a leader. All these things are there. We can have classes on, we can have teaching seminars, but if they do not take personal responsibility to go, nothing happens. The church can organize a seminar like that, if people don't come, nothing happens. See, at the end of the day, it is also our own personal growth. But more than that, if now, I'm a little bit smarter now, we're over time. If someone comes and they tell me I'm not growing spiritually, and I don't feel that I'm being fed, I sense, I guess, more likely than not, that person is not having a meaningful and consistent devotional life. Am I allowed to say that? Most people who come up to a leader and say, I'm not growing, this church is not helping me to grow, first thing I like to do is put my finger on this area. I would like to ask him, my brother, my sister, are you having a meaningful, consistent devotional life yourself? Most likely, the answer will be no. You think it's true? You all look very serious. I'm just making a point. Let me illustrate what I mean. Just to make it clearer for you. Imagine that my wife is on holiday in Paris for two weeks. I wish. Imagine she's on holiday for two weeks in Paris. And I'm left all alone here in Singapore. Two weeks later, she came back. I met her at the airport. When she saw me at the airport, she saw that I looked skinny, emancipated, not emanciated, you know. My eyes, my cheeks look sunken, body frail, weak, stomach bloated. Then she asked me, what happened to you? And I said, I'm not getting fat here. There's no one at home to feed me. You guess what my wife would say? I think she would slap me. Then she said, you should feed yourself. What's wrong with you? The hawker centre is downstairs, there's food in the pantry, why can't you feed yourself? You think she's going to say, oh you poor thing, how come you never eat? No, no, no. She's going to slap me and say, why don't you feed yourself? I think that's my point. You get the point? End of the day, I think we need to take responsibility for our own growth. Now, I'm not saying that every church is equally effective, you know, in everything. I'm not saying that. But what I'm saying is, whatever it is, we must take responsibility to grow ourselves. And the starting point is, have that time with God. Let him mentor you through the divine mentors of the past. Start there. Let me give you some handles, if you want to do that. How do I get into the Word? I'll start. Let me give you some handles. Four things we need to do. Number one is this, you decide resolutely to be in the Word. I want to encourage you to do that. Decide resolutely, I'm going to get into the Word. Ron Jensen is a Christian management consultant. He rented a camper van once, travelled around the whole of the United States while he's working on his doctorate thesis, so visiting churches and all that. At the end of the tour, he made one comment. The comment he made was this, as he travelled around, he says, I found a great deal of zeal for God's work, but very little passion for God. A great deal of zeal for God's work, but very little passion for God. I think this is so revealing, the fact that we can all end up very busy, but not, at the same time, not nurturing our personal walk with the Lord. Does that make sense? Great zeal for God's work, but very little passion for God. So I think we need to sort of make, decide resolutely, number one, I'm going to get into the Word. And here's number two, design a game plan for reading the Word. You've got to have a game plan. Now I know many of you here are very mature Christians and you probably have already, over the years, developed a system. But if you have not, I give you a suggested game plan. Number one, because you'd be amazed how many of us actually struggle with the basics. Am I right? It can be old time pastor, old time teacher, old time member, and still struggle with the basics. So let's go back to some basics. Number one, fix a period. It can be morning, it can be evening, depending on whether you are hour or you are half hour. Some of us are hour, night birds. We operate best at night. Some are hours. We operate best in the morning. So you decide which are you. I'll turn you to night if you are hour, I'll use the morning. The whole point is to find the time that you are best, at your best, to connect with God. Now personally, I prefer the morning because it reduces distraction and you are a bit fresher. So that's number one. Fix a period. Number two, fix a place. Depending on the way that you are wired, all of us are different, you can choose indoors or outdoors, crowded or quiet places. But find your own pathway, decide which is how you are wired and then go for it. Some of us need to have a quiet place, others need to be in a fast food joint. So you just have to decide which is the place that you can best connect. Here's number three. So fix a period, fix a place, fix a pattern. Now some of us prefer to use devotional materials like Everyday with Jesus or The Word for Today. Others prefer a reading plan that means to just read through different passages of scripture. Whatever you choose, here's the key, be consistent, stick to it, at least for a season, stick to it so that you can establish a pattern. Whatever your pattern is, it is good to have the following elements inside. If you are going to spend time in the world, have these following elements, four things. Read, reflect, record, and then you respond. Read, reflect, record, respond. So you open up the scripture, read it. That's where you concentrate. You read the passage and then you meditate on it, reflect on it. What is it saying to me, etc. Then you record, that's journaling. It's very good if you can write things down, you journal, and then you respond. You decide, how am I going to put this into practice in my life. So read, reflect, record, respond. If you've never done journaling before, you don't know how to begin, I just give you a simple acronym that you can follow. You have a little book, whatever booklet you like to use. For our church, this year we have decided to do a really mobilize the church in this year of fruitfulness towards this area. So we printed a little diary for them and inside has all the church calendars, stuff like that. But inside, there are journal pages where we have these four letters inside. S-O-A-P SOAP S-O-A-P For journaling purposes, we encourage them to use the SOAP approach. SOAP stands for this, S is for Scripture. Okay, Scripture. That means, okay, maybe it's John chapter 1 verse 1 to 8. That's the Scripture. So you write down that Scripture so that you can read it. The O stands for Observation. What are you observing from this passage? And you write down. Don't write too much, just one or two will do. Then the third is A is for Application. How does this apply to my life? And then the P stands for Prayer. So you turn this application into prayer. Pray back to God. Is this simple enough? Soap yourself with the word every morning. SOAP is for what? Cleansing. So clean yourself every day. Clean yourself. Get lifted up. Get cleansed. So S-O-A-P SOAP. So, get lifted. Fix a place. Fix a pattern. And, number four, fix a partner. Fix a partner. Arrange to meet with an accountability partner. And share what you have gleaned from the word. If possible, meet as a small group during the month. Sometimes a cell group can be a good platform for this as well. You come together, take out your little journal book and just get one or two to share. This is what I gleaned this week. One or two things. So, very simple. Just get started and do it. You know. Get into it resolutely. Okay. So, number one, decide resolutely that you're going to get into the word. And then, number two, design a game plan. If you need to go and buy a diary, go do it. Okay. And the challenge is spend the rest of this month put these steps into practice. That will be good. Okay, here's number three. Okay, number three. Now, what I've given you so far is simply devotion. It's just simply taking time out and just reflect a bit every day. But, I also encourage you to sort of become a student of God's word. I thank God for all of you. The fact that you are here today testifies to this that you have devoted time to study the word. I want to encourage you and lead yourself into the Christian education program of your church. I know that every church, most churches at least in Singapore would have Christian education program. And lead yourself into those classes. Make a point to attend good teaching seminars, training sessions that can help you to get a good grip of the word of God. It's good to do that. I know that in today's world not everybody have the time. It's a world with very heavy world ethics now. At least, you know, turn your car into a university. Turn your car into a seminary. Okay, put CDs, etc. So that instead of listening to 95.8, you know, why don't you just, or 98.5, you just listen to CDs instead. Listen to the word of God. You know, listen to preaching, teaching, etc. And make full use of your in-between time. It's the best thing we can do to become a student of God's word in today's world. And if there are once in a while there are good seminars, they are on, go for it. That's the reason why God raised teachers in the body of Christ. You know, and now that I've been teaching long enough and preaching long enough, I still make time to listen to good teaching from others so that I fill up my own wells and in turn I can fill up other people's wells. Does that make sense? I think we need to take personal responsibility for these things and just do them. Okay, decide resolutely to be in the word. Design a game plan for your own devotional life. Okay, and number three, devote time to listening to CDs, DVDs or actual seminars, etc. Christian education program. Number four, determine also to live according to the word. Now, just learning and learning, listening and listening does not bring about change. Hearing may challenge you, but it may not change you. See, and at the end of the day, James 1.22 says, don't just listen and so deceive ourselves, but do what it says. At the end of the day, we do. Now, it's interesting that this phrase, James 1.22, the Greek actually uses a word there, listen to the word. They use this word akrotes, you know, a-k-r-o-a-t-e-s in the Greek, which is used to describe people who audit a class rather than to take it for credit. It's an interesting concept. When you say someone who just hear the word but never do it, you are like an audit student in a university course. You are not a credit student. You are an audit student. Now, you are not a credit student. You know what's the difference between the two? An audit student is someone who just want to go and learn and glean whatever they can, but they don't want to be tested. I don't want to sit for exam. I don't want to do any assignments. I just want to come and listen only. That's an audit student. But a credit student is someone who not only listen, not only learn, but he has to be a credit student in the word of God. Is that okay? All of us must be credit students. You got to sign in for this credit course. No audit courses for us. Don't just listen, but let's do the work. You know the difference between the audit and the credit student is something like that. You go to the hardware store and you buy a pack of cement. Put the right amount of water into it, it becomes concrete. It becomes rock solid. You can hear and hear and hear, learn and learn and learn. Take down notes and take down notes and take down notes until you add action to it. It's just cement. But once you act on it, it becomes concrete. Does that make sense? It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. It's concrete. 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